History Main / AlternateContinuity

* ''[=TekkitLive=]'' places some of the primary cast members of ''WebVideoSMPLive'' into a SchizoTech world with nuclear weaponry, cannons, computers, and more. This leads to some drastically different character traits compared to the main server.

* The first four ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' films--''Film/Batman1989'', ''Film/BatmanReturns'', ''Film/BatmanForever'', and ''Film/BatmanAndRobin''--are generally treated as a single continuity, despite changes in actors, directors, and overall tone, and a lack of a clear story arc from one film to the next. (One constant in all four films is the actor who plays Alfred, Creator/MichaelGough.) However, ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' contradicts the earlier films in various details (e.g. the identity of the mugger who kills Bruce Wayne's parents) and definitely seems separate from any of those earlier films.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonCrossing'': It's the Pokémon universe, albeit inhabited by VideoGame/AnimalCrossing characters instead of humans.

* The first ''FanFic/DantesNightAtFreddys'' story could conceivably take place in the same continuity as ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys''. The sequel isn't so straightforward.

* ''Fanfic/RWBYGrimmDarkness'' ends up being this to ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' in regards to Volume 3 and beyond, due to a few events in the latter making things incompatible with the fanfic unless a few [[{{Retcon}} retcons]] are made regarding Volume 3. A list of such changes made to Volume 3 are on the fanfic page itself.

** The first being the "Original Timeline" a.k.a. the "Thorn Timeline" which is ''Halloweens [[Film/{{Halloween 1978}} 1]]-[[Film/HalloweenTheCurseofMichaelMyers 6]]'', excluding ''[[Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch 3]]''.

** Now there's the ''[[Film/Halloween2018 Halloween 2018]]'' reboot timeline with ''Halloween'' (2018), ''Film/HalloweenKills'', and ''Film/HalloweenEnds'' that '''only''' canonize the original 1978 movie.

* Series/DoctorWho has a number of these, many from the period between 1989 and 2005 fans have nicknamed the Wilderness Years.

** And all the children's books. (And even the children's books weren't afraid to take what they liked of past installments and leave the rest. Sometimes the 'cons pop up in the same drill vehicle five minutes after they used it to escape last time; sometimes Jetfire is just fine after getting a FamilyUnfriendlyDeath You can ''surely'' bet we never hear about the whole "[[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids thousands of human slaves go 'squish]]'" thing again.)

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse Alright, let's start at the beginning one more time.]][[note]]Top image is from the 2012 remake of ''ComicBook/AmazingFantasy15'', and the bottom image is from ''Film/SpiderManHomecoming''.[[/note]]]]

** ''Kamen Rider'' also has some internal examples thanks to its movies. While some avert NonSerialMovie, others cannot be placed during the span of the original show for various issues. ''Series/KamenRiderFaiz'' and ''Series/KamenRiderBlade'' have movies that ask "WhatIf TheBadGuyWins?" and "What if the series ended differently?", respectively. Likewise, ''[[Film/HeiseiRiderVsShowaRiderKamenRiderWarsFeaturingSuperSentai Kamen Rider Wars]]'' depicts another alternate version of ''Faiz'''s final battle[[note]]In which Yuji Kiba was still a villain and Masato Kusaka survived to fight in the battle but died in Takumi's arms[[/note]] which seems to have been rewritten mainly to give protagonist Takumi Inui SurvivorGuilt.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse Alright, let's start at the beginning one more time.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:[[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderverse Alright, let's start at the beginning one more time.]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/MarvelUniverse https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mcu_vs_mcu_1_5.png]]]]

[[quoteright:275:[[ComicBook/{{Batman}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman_1943_serial_poster.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:275:[[Film/TheBatmanSerial They]] [[Franchise/{{Batman}} each]] [[Series/Batman1966 have]] [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries their own]] [[Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy continuity]] [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} as well.]]]]

** Within the expanded universe itself, there's ''Star Wars: Infinities''. Each of the original trilogy movies has an alternate continuity comic, with things like Luke dying on Hoth in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and Vader surviving the Death Star and helping the rebels find Palpatine while wearing white armor in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''. There was also a novel supplement in which Luke was killed by Luuke in ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy''. There are also other stores put into the ''Infinities'' category that weren't compatible with canon (reboot or ''Legends''), like ''Skippy The Jedi Droid''.

** Other video games based on Highlander either had little plot or were cancelled due to DevelopmentHell and budget concerns.

*** In ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', Ben Solo is Han and Leia's son and only child, instead of there being Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo.

*** In ''Film/RogueOne'', the Rogue One team intercepts the Death Star plans, overwriting pretty much every story involving Operation Starhook in the original expanded universe, including Kyle Katarn's involvement in stealing the plans in the ''VideoGame/DarkForces'' series.
*** ''Film/{{Solo}}'' takes plot elements from ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'', but changes names and details to make a different story.

*** Even within the new Disney-era canon, the various LEGO animated specials and some kids comics from IDW are likewise treated as standalone from the main Star Wars canon. Anime/StarWarsVisions and its tie in book Literature/StarWarsVisionsRonin are likewise part of their own continuities.

* The ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' series has the Showa, Heisei, and Millenium series, each a separate continuity with the [[Film/{{Gojira}} original 1954 film]] being the only thing shared between them. In addition, each film in the Millennium series is itself a separate continuity (except for ''Film/GodzillaAgainstMechagodzilla'' and ''Film/GodzillaTokyoSOS'').

* Until the release of ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKingIISimbasPride Simba's Pride]]'', the cub raised at the end of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994'' was described in all tie-in books as male, as opposed to the female Kiara in the sequel. Most famously, a series of books released soon after the first movie depicted the adventures of Simba's son Kopa. The series wasn't written by Creator/{{Disney}} though. Due to the fact Disney doesn't consider anything but the initial film canon, Simba and Nala have no less than ''three'' semi-canon cubs who are supposedly the same individual: Kopa from the aforementioned books, Kiara from the sequel, and their new son Kion from ''WesternAnimation/TheLionGuard''.

** Then, there is the Continuity of ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatianStreet'' which is in Cannon with only the first of the "Animated" Films.

*** The stance until recently was that universal streams and the multiverse and all that are untouched, but things in the [[Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse current version of the franchise]] are not part of or connected to any of it. (This is problematic due to a few places where they do intersect, most notably the ''Rise of the Dark Spark'' video game, and subject to change). One suspects they did this mainly to get around the issue of "multiversal singularities", especially where the Thirteen (and Alpha Trion in particular) were concerned.[[note]]Basically, a PhysicalGod character and some of their direct creations are the same person in every dimension; while G1 Optimus, ''Armada'' Optimus, and ''Animated'' Optimus are different guys that you could get in one room if you had dimension-hopping technology, Primus and Unicron are cosmic entities who exist in such a way that Armada Unicron ''is'' G1 Unicron and any ''other'' Unicron, able to be in more than one place at once. The thirteen original Transformers are singularities as well. However, the most recent official roster of that group includes Alpha Trion, Optimus's mentor in many series. This would make ''all'' past incarnations of Alpha Trion the same guy. Sounds good enough at first: Alpha Trion is an ancient sage who could easily be more than meets the eye even by Transformer standards, and all TV incarnations of him are nigh identical in form, personality, and job. But then you get to the AxCrazy MirrorUniverse version from the Shattered Glass comics. No way the arch-villain with his enemies' mutilated corpses hanging from his ceiling is the same guy as the kindly old robot from the backstory of every other version of TF. However, the ''Prime'' series and its ''Robots in Disguise'' sequel have yet to outright state that the current Alpha Trion is one of the Thirteen, or anything about Multiversal Singularities, or anything like that - that whole mess is usually reserved for the comic book series that team up multiple TF series, and again, ''those'' are Collector's Club exclusives that you will ''never'' find on your comic book store's shelf. As such, "There's more than one multiverse" is a VoodooShark explanation for something that doesn't actually need explaining.[[/note]] That stance has since changed, and the [[Franchise/TransformersAlignedUniverse current incarnation of the franchise]] is now treated as part of the multiverse that was blocked off from the rest until recently, according to the new version of [[CharacterBlog "Ask Vector Prime"]].

* ''Fanfic/FamilyGuyFanon'' is basically this trope for the whole ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' cartoon. With several key differences in from the fanon wiki to the original such expanding on story arcs that were lacking in the original (the Brian's death and Brian moves out story arcs are big examples), [[AscendedExtra one-off characters getting expanded roles]] (see Change for a Buck, Kimi, and Randall Fargus) and certain other characters getting changed personalities (see Francis Griffin) and even events (Ex: The two cancelations are changed around. The first cancelation happens after Season 3 instead of Season 2, and the second cancelation happens after Season 4 instead of Season 3).

* WordOfGod is that the ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'' film and the spin–off TV series ''WesternAnimation/ThePenguinsOfMadagascar'' are in alternate continuities.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheCupheadShow'' appears to be set in a continuity separate from that of [[VideoGame/{{Cuphead}} the game it's based on]]. The first episode is more or less an alternate take on how Cuphead's soul became indebted to the Devil, with a carnival instead of a casino, and King Dice's relationship with the Devil is more one-sided than it was in the game.

* ''Fanfic/PokemonCrossingFlyMeToTheMoon'': It's the Pokémon universe, albeit inhabited by VideoGame/AnimalCrossing characters instead of humans.

* The ''Franchise/StarTrek'' [[Film/StarTrek reboot movies]] a.k.a. "The Kelvin Timeline" are explicitly set in an Alternate Timeline that exists parallel to the TV shows and the first ten films ("The Original Timeline"), so it could be a prequel without being ContinuityPorn or getting hated like ''Star Trek: Enterprise''. [[BigBad Nero]] and his ''Narada'' crew as well as [[spoiler:[[CoolOldGuy Old Spock]]]] are from the original timeline. An Admiral [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Archer]] is also mentioned in passing.

** ''Series/{{Highlander}}: The Series'' (1992-1998) is set in an Alternate Continuity to the movies, where there are still Immortals alive all over the world and nobody has won the Prize. It ''does'' consider the events of the original film to be canon in BroadStrokes (the second season premiere references Connor defeating the Kurgan in 1985) but it completely ignores ''Highlander II'' and, upon its release, ''Highlander III'' as well. The [[SpinOff spin-off]] series ''Series/HighlanderTheRaven'' (1998-1999), starring recurring character Amanda, is set in the same continuity, as is the animated webseries spinoff ''The Methos Chronicles'' (2001) which ties into the series canon as part of Methos's backstory. There was also a series of ten ''Highlander'' novels published from 1995 to 2000, which are set in the TV series continuity and are considered canon.

** ''Highlander: TheAnimatedSeries'' (1994-1996) is set in the far future and operates differently enough to be considered its own continuity, with immortals giving up their immortality at will and so on.
** The anime movie ''Anime/HighlanderTheSearchForVengeance'' (2007) is set in a completely different continuity to everything else that came before.
** The ''Highlander'' comic books published by Dynamite
** The Big Finish Productions audio dramas.
** Five video games which either have little plot or were cancelled due to DevelopmentHell and budget concerns.

* ''Franchise/TheSmurfs'' has currently four different continuities: the [[ComicBook/TheSmurfs comic books]], the [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs1981 1980s cartoon show]], [[Film/TheSmurfs Sony Pictures' live-action film series]], and ''WesternAnimation/SmurfsTheLostVillage'', with the upcoming [[WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs2021 2021 cartoon show]] possibly becoming another new continuity. To tell apart the continuities, Greedy is the village chef in the cartoon show, while in the comic books and the movie Chef, Baker, and Greedy are separate characters. For other notable differences, read [[http://smurfs.wikia.com/wiki/Smurfs_Comic_Book_Universe these]] [[http://smurfs.wikia.com/wiki/Smurfs_Animated_Universe four]] [[http://smurfs.wikia.com/wiki/Smurfs_Live-Action_Film_Universe separate]] [[http://smurfs.fandom.com/wiki/Smurfs_CGI_Film_Universe pages]] at the Smurfs Wiki. (Their stories in the ''ComicBook/JohanAndPeewit'' series could be considered a fifth continuity, since their Smurf Village is located in the Cursed Land instead of the Smurf Forest.) Sometimes for the sake of merchandise like the ''Smurfs Village'' game app, there would be mixing of characters from most if not all of these continuities.

** Now there's the ''[[Film/Halloween2018 Halloween 2018]]'' reboot timeline with ''Halloween'' (2018), ''Film/HalloweenKills'', and ''Halloween Ends'' that '''only''' canonize the original 1978 movie.